Catchfence

Eyes in the Sky Have Dizzying Duty of Keeping Cars out of Pile-Ups

Huntersville, N.C. (August 19, 2009) – As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Sharpie 500 this weekend, one of the most important members of each team won’t be down on the track during the race — he’ll be above the track looking down. Spotters have their work cut out for them at the half-mile oval. Recent changes such as a repaving of the track and the new double-file restarts can make things even more interesting.

Bobby Labonte

Bobby Labonte, Driver No. 96 Ask.com Ford and President of Breaking Limits:

“Spotters are really important at Bristol, but at the same time, it’s also one of the hardest places to be a spotter because everything piles up so quickly. They don’t have much time to warn you that you’re coming up on a wreck, and if you both don’t react quickly enough, you’re in it, too.

“And since they repaved the track, you’ve got more side-by-side racing because there are two grooves now. So you’re hearing more from your spotter about what’s inside or outside, not just what’s in front of you.”

John Andretti

“I think that the ‘new Bristol’ is easier on spotters. On the old track surface, it was mostly bumping and banging to get to the front. Now a lot of passes are made on the outside, which never happened before. The track allows for more race track to be used and that keeps there from being as many wrecks, so the spotting isn’t quite as hard as before.

“The double-file restarts will be the hardest aspect of spotting at Bristol. This will be the first short track that we’ll do a double-file restart at. As the race winds down, I’m sure there will be a few cautions and it’s going to be hard for the good cars to clear each other on the restarts. I expect that will look more like the ‘old Bristol’ and keep the spotters on their toes. But still, if I was a spotter, I would much rather spot at Bristol than Talladega or Daytona.”

Eddie D'Hondt

“You have to keep a real close eye on your car at all times. But at the same time you can’t because, when the field gets spread out and something happens ahead and you’re not paying attention, next thing you know you’re in it. So it’s mentally draining and you really have to be on top of your game.”

“It is such a tight-knit fraternity and most of those guys up there have been doing it for more than 10 years now and they all know each other like brothers. But when a driver gets angry at another driver, you are the sole source of communication between the two. He can’t just yell out the window to the other driver so it has to go through the spotter. So, yeah, if we think that the spotter didn’t do something right for his driver, we can end up in each other’s face every once in a while.”

- Breaking Limits Marketing, Press Release